فصلنامه مطالعات میان رشته ای در علوم انسانی
سال ششم شماره 1 (پیاپی 21، زمستان 1392)

This paper constitutes of two main sections: the first section examines academic disciplines in the world theoretically. This section deals with issues such as what are academic disciplines، how they emerged and evolved، what functions they have had، and finally، what problems and crisis they have in terms of their functions. The second section of the paper deals with the state of academic disciplines in Iran. To examine Iranian academic disciplines I have studied social and historical context of emergence and development of academic disciplines in Iran. I have also compared similarities and differences of academic disciplines functions in Iran and the west. Finally، I tried to explain Iranian academic disciplines encounter which challenges and difficulties today. This paper examines academic disciplines from sociological and cultural studies approach. It is mainly a theoretical and conceptual analysis of the state of discipline in the academic system. Cultural studies، as Moran (Moran 2001) explains، is a kind of approach rather than a specific discipline. From this point of view، each discipline has its own interdisciplinary field and cultural studies. In addition، cultural studies approach explains and explores social and political context disciplines.

Does everyone have the same understanding of interdisciplinary studies? Today، there is almost consensus among scholars and pundits on the necessity of interdisciplinary studies. Unlike a few decades ago، there is no longer interest of independence of the humanities areas. These areas are complex، and therefore interdisciplinary debates changed to public discourse. In this regard، there are several narrations about the meaning of interdisciplinary studies. One of them is trying to seek facts. Francis Bacon''s scientific method i. e. basic principles of revolutionary behavior in the humanities، can be considered in this narration. Another narration is seeking criticism. Thinkers such as Herbert Marcuse، Jürgen Habermas involved in this approach. The third narration is searching for meaning. French structuralism، Hermeneutic and phenomenology are investigated within this approach. Finally، the fourth narration seeks narration. Poststructuralist، such as Jacques Derrida، Michel Foucault and Jean-Francois Lyotard have this approach. Given to these macro and fundamental approaches that recognize the importance of interdisciplinary studies، this paper attempts to shed light on some aspects of these approaches enabling them to identify the position of interdisciplinary studies in Iran.

Academic interdisciplinaries demand their own specific standards of excellence. This study attempts to design a conceptual model and to edit its structural indices in university and descriptive-analytic method is used in it. For this reason، at first conceptual dimensions of the structure have been identified and appropriate indices and criteria have been designed and edited on the basis of those factors. The population survey includes documents and reports exist in information databases that are accessible to the researcher with regard to the research topic، and sampling has been characterized by the use of purposeful sampling. Results of the study reveals that in order to develop an academic interdisciplinary structure one has to pay attention to the five conceptual dimensions Including interdisciplinary philosophy، conditions and situations، selection، balance and mass participation، as well as five main factors in strategies for making interdisciplinary structure which includes: policies، management and organizational structure، infrastructure support، leadership، support and supervision، funding، the officialism. So in this research to create an interdisciplinary structure، factors، specific criteria and indicators were identified and designed.

Although the interdisciplinary as a scientific concept does not have a long history، but as a research procedure، has a long history as of research itself. The question this paper poses is that whether interdisciplinary is a specific area of the Western culture or has a track record in the East and especially Iran''s history? This paper tried to show that in addition to the interdisciplinary nature of some of the Iranian intellectual heritage، Poetry and Rhymes can be seen as a field with the function of interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinary functions of poem can be analyzed at three levels: The first level، is topics. The second is the problems. And the third level is the solutions. Persian poetry، though not strictly could be categorized as an interdisciplinary field، but viewing poetry as an emotional activity due to vanity or vertu is a reductionist viewpoint. And if we look with a Phenomenological approach، regardless of the assumptions made، Poetry is one of the most lasting، deepest and most sacred among various cultural practices and human knowledge through the passage of time and has important functions in the organization of interdisciplinary fields; though it is not exactly an area of ​​interdisciplinary science with discipline.

Interdisciplinary as a new approach to the problems of science and knowledge، has a wide range، but there is no consensus on its epistemological range and ontological domain. Among the different and various problems، there is a general agreement on “City” as a field of study as an interdisciplinary phenomenon. At least، three important disciplines، geography، architecture and social sciences، have engaged in analyzing this phenomenon by using each other’s methods، indicators، and objects. The extensive scientific branches of city have attracted the attentions of phenomenologists، engineers، economists، politicians، researchers of cultural studies، environment، and media. In this paper، the interdisciplinary aspect of city is reviewed by focusing on its connection with space، media، politics، economic and culture.

In the article، it has been tried to answer a fundamental question on the political science; whether the science has been constituted through a combination of difference and diversity of sciences or that is a unique، totally independent discipline. The author endeavors to manifest that the nature of political science is interdisciplinary. The study of the history of political knowledge reveals that this kind of knowledge can be understandable just by comprehending the impact of other disciplines. Basically، Politics has been a conjunction and intersection of social phenomena as well as human knowledge. That is a constant characteristic of politics، from political knowledge in ancient era to political science in the age of globalization. From Plato and Aristotle to Fararbi and Ibn Khaldun، and form Hobbes to Martin Albrow، Politics has been a consequence of mixture and coalition of various diversity of knowledge. This interdisciplinary substance of political science not only does not predicate dependency of the science، but also shows the excellence and magnificent situation of political science in the history of the world.

Futures research is transdisciplinary knowledge to understand the changes and futures. In the context of interdisciplinary methodology، current study reviews the paradigms of futures studies referring to typology of Joseph Voros and introduces five research paradigms including Positivism، Post-positivism، Criticalism، Constructivism and Participatory. The differences and similarities of these paradigms in the levels of anthology، epistemology، and methodology would be discussed and then، characteristics of each paradigm in terms of research purpose، status of researcher، nature of knowledge، and accumulated knowledge would be argued. In the next step، the main techniques and methods of futures studies such Trend Impact Analysis، Delphi، Scenarios، Causal Layered Analysis، and etc. are discussed. Further، we try to identify the status of each technique and method in the five mentioned methodologies. Finally، we introduce Integral futures approach as a newest methodology in futures studies to consider how this meta-paradigm is used in the area of futures studies.